Frank Sinatra singing drunk on the shore of the Indian Ocean to Ava Gardner. 
The pursuit of a Valtellina bresaola who escaped with a 'firefly' in the Islamic quarter. Butlers who make trouble, following to the letter the instructions of foreigners who believe themselves to be polyglots and mandinghi lovers who know the primordial art of seduction and ignore the most elementary rules of contraception. These are some of the tales that the elderly Kazungu, after forty years of working for the whites of Malindi, tells his grandchildren at sunset time in his village at the edge of the savannah. Grandfather Kazungu knows the ins and outs of an earthly paradise that over time has been filled with mzungu of all species. 
Who better than he can rattle off the facts, misdeeds, adventures and grotesque implications of the most bizarre, colourful and singular 'colony' of Italians abroad? 
With the verve of a Stefano Benni in African sauce, Freddie del Curatolo describes the relationship between a tired and worn-out civilisation and a poor and dignified tribe, the Giriama, in one of the world's most popular tourist spots for our compatriots. Kenya is a dream of freedom for some, but also a land of conquest for billionaire addicts. Perhaps there it is still possible to decide which side you are on.
This is the flap on the cover of 'Safari Bar', the novel by Freddie del Curatolo that can now be found in all bookshops in Italy (Guido Veneziani Editore, 216pages, € 13.90). Forty years of a bizarre, improbable colonialism are recounted to his grandchildren by an old butler who returns to his mud hut on the road to the Tsavo National Park. Grotesque and tragicomic events involving Briatore-like tycoons, artists such as Zucchero, Valtellina bresaola scattered in bad neighbourhoods, young 'scions' in search of African stallions, 'desperate houseboys' struggling with technology and many other characters inspired by the reality in which the author has lived for many years. Malindikenya.net's advice, of course, is to buy it and have a good laugh, while being moved by the great love for the Kenyan land that shines through the book's pages. "Safari Bar" is based on a book published by Freddie in Kenya a few years ago, which literally sold out in a few days, entitled "Tales of Grandfather Kazungu".